THE WELFARE BUFFET

From gas connections to piped water, Jan Dhan to health insurance, there seemed to be a scheme for every aspect of citizens' lives

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IN 2014, Narendra Modi had seemed a man in a hurry. Never had someone been so eager to leave his stamp on the nation, and quickly at that, outdoing the legacy of his predecessors. The BJP strongman had come to power on the ticket of achhe din, and he was determined to deliver them from day one. The first initiative was a novel one: to erase the image of India as a dirty, unsanitary country. Swachh Bharat, as the mission was called, spurred a toilet-building spree across the landscape, in an ambitious bid to end open defecation. Financial inclusion followed next, in the guise of a Jan Dhan Yojana to bank the country's unbanked millions. Together, they set the template for a new, welfare-driven model of governance.